Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 219: Elysium vs Gravestone Part III

While Carolus was engaging in the initial aspects of his encounter with Elena and Madison, the Gravestone Guerillas began to make their move. With the enemy general distracted, and the front lines of both armies colliding. Now was the time to strike.

After hiding in the hills above the town, the Guerillas silently deployed into the urban area where the battle was taking place. Kiting along the alleys which were filled with the bodies of humans and undead alike. As they made their way towards where the enemies' ranged units were located.

After much effort, the Guerillas of Gravestone found their targets. Who were spread out rather sporadically as they cast their spells, and loosed their arrows upon the armies battling the streets of Tahoe below.

The spellcaster in charge of Elysium's awakened who were shall we say, more magically inclined. Or at least had skills that were ranged from focus. Was busy yelling at his troops. Completely unaware that no less than 25 meters away, an enemy force had gathered. And we're targeting them.

He also didn't know that these units were all equipped with arquebuses, which had been manufactured in the grim forge. Giving them an incredibly powerful capability. And while the Gravestone Guerillas lined up with their matchlocks in hand, they fired a single volley towards the archers and spellcasters.

500 rounds went down range and pierced through the bodies of their targets. Tearing giant holes in the chest of the victims, causing them to drop dead on the spot. It didn't matter of the awakened was level fifteen, and wearing proper equipment to match his strength. Against such firepower, anything less than a juggernaut would be sent to the afterlife with a single shot.

Of course, the deafening sounds of a thousand matchlocks going off at once alerted the spellcasters and archers towards their enemies' position. But by the time they realized what had happened, the distance had already been mostly closed. With the Elysian ranged units desperately trying to fire off another shot before the enemy entered the melee entrance.

In the ensuing combat, a dozen or two of Gravestone's guerillas fell. While the others rushed forward, more than willing to slay the enemies in front of them, despite them being human. After all, it had been over six months since the apocalypse began, and any fool naïve or idealistic enough to think that individual human life was valuable, and that killing was wrong, had long since perished.

Within this wasteland of a world, there was one universal rule, kill or be killed, and all living human beings understood this on a deeply instinctual level. Thus, the moment that soldiers of Gravestone closed the gap between themselves and the crusaders of Elysium, they did not hesitate to unleash their blades upon them. Knowing fully well that they were taking a human life in the process.

---

One should not underestimate the intelligence of the undead. Sure the lowest levels of such creatures were utterly devoid of any thought and relied entirely on base instinct to move around in this world. But the higher the tier of undead, the more intelligent they became.

At Tier III, an Undead was intelligent enough to follow orders, and perform basic tasks. But at Tier IV, their intelligence could rival that of your average American. Perhaps they were maybe even a bit smarter.

Zane's entire horde was composed of undead at the Rank of Tier III. There was, however, one caveat to this. Among his horde were several dozen, if not hundred, of undead who were between level 15-20.

Meaning they had strength, intelligence, dexterity, etc. on par with a Tier IV Undead, and thus they were more than intelligent enough to give commands to their units, and to even counter an enemy's tactics while they were being employed.

Because of this, the battle between Melee Units did not go entirely as Elysium had planned. Sure, the Ghouls were significantly outnumbered. But the commander in charge not only was capable of following the battle plan that Zane had enacted, but he was also capable of improvising on the fly.

Hence, why the outnumbered Ghouls slowly began falling back. And in doing so, allowing their enemies to press forward through the center of their lines. This was, however, a trick made by the Undead that Zane had placed in charge of the army while he went to fight with the Elysian General.

For each inch of ground gained by the Elysian forces, they were secretly falling into a trap, and being encircled by the larger walls of Ghouls on both sides of the center line. They thought they were advancing and making progress in eliminating the enemy.

But the reality was they were being completely enveloped. Just as Zane had done to Zander's horde a month prior. The trap had been lain, and unfortunately for the forces of Elysian, who believed they were a moment away from victory, they had taken the bait.

---

Carolus was full of cuts. Even the buff which the Goddess had granted him with proved to have failed in the face of such overwhelming opponents. Among the entire army of Elysium, he ranked atop its five most powerful awakened. In fact, aside from perhaps the goddess herself. He was the only one to advance into level 20.

So how? How did Gravestone have two of such individuals when they were a much smaller faction? It simply didn't make sense! After spitting out the blood that had pooled in his mouth, Carolus raised his shield, which was on the edge of shattering, and deflected another blow from Elena.

By now he had learned that the woman could stop time and cut past his armor. It was why he had so many injuries. As for Madison, her defense was impregnable, and she used it to constantly protect Elena from any attacks he might make.

It was truly and utterly infuriating to think about. Because of this, Carolus cursed as his shield shattered after deflecting Elena's blow. He appeared to know that he was not making it out of this battle alive and was quick to condemn the two women who had led to his death.

"You fucking whores! The goddess light shines upon me! I am her champion! And what are you? Who do you fight for!?!"

It was at this moment that a chilling voice erupted from behind Carolus. The man also noticed that his neck was enveloped by what appeared to be a sickle. His bravery was truly commendable, as he just barely managed to turn his head around to look into Zane's cold black eyes.

"They fight for me…"

It took Carolus a second to realize that there had been a third opponent watching and waiting for an opportunity to attack. And because of this, he pushed Zane away and stumbled backwards. Only to replace both of his feet pinned to the ground by arrows which were loosed upon him by Lily, who chose to remain hiding in the shadows.

After Crying out in pain. Carolus looked up in panic to see Zane and the girls standing in front of him. This man? Who the hell was he? He had come out of nowhere. In fact, the entire time, Carolus could not detect his presence.

How? How was this even remotely possible?

There were many questions that Carolus had, but only one escaped his mouth while he tried and failed to strike Zane with his mace.

"Just who the hell are you!?!"

Zane caught Carolus's wrist in midair, just as the mace was an inch away from his face. After doing so, he raised his sickle sword to the man's neck, and looked at him with a capricious gaze before repeating the words he had said to Zander when the Horde King asked a similar question.

"I am death…."

A look of complete and utter horror appeared on Carolus' face, which was the last expression it made, considering Zane had severed his head the very second after such a visceral emotion displayed itself.

Zane caught the head as it was falling in midair, and stared into its vacant, lifeless eyes, where he smirked. With the enemy general dead, the army of Elysian would fall into chaos, assuming it hadn't already. And when that happened, he could mop up what remained of the enemy.

As for Carolus himself, his death would be a great blow to Elysian, as it meant they had lost their greatest fighting strength. An act which could never be forgiven by the Cult and its petty goddess.